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Celebrating Birthdays in School
OK, so you probably didn't have a hard time falling asleep last night, but if it's a student's birthday today, they did and they are going to be excited. And the worst thing you can do? Not be ready. And by ready, I mean saying 'Happy Birthday, Susan!' as soon as they enter the room, at the very least. I always told my students they looked taller, asked about their morning, and gave them a hug.
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Why Your Bulletin Boards Should Be Filled With Student Work
Take a look around your classroom. What percentage of the walls are covered by store-bought posters or things that you have created and what percentage of the walls or wall space available is covered with student work? When teachers decorate their classrooms with pretty store-bought artifacts it says a lot about what they think about their classroom, about their classroom theme, and a lot about what they like, but it doesn’t really say anything about the students. In recent years classroom bulletin boards have become less and less about sharing student work and more an expression of the teacher. Inspirational words, angel wings, quotes and cricut designs all look very…
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Teaching Composing and Decomposing Numbers to Kindergarten
Use these fun free downloads and popcorn to introduce your kindergarteners to decomposing numbers. Includes a recording sheet - learn more!
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All About Me Back to School Activity
If you are tired of your usual back to school poster or writing assignment, then check out this craft activity. Engage them from day one with this craft activity where students make a 'mini-me' and fill in a book cover about themselves!
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Place Value for Grades 1 and 2
Place value doesn't have to be boring. Understanding that tens and hundreds can be thought of as 'bundles' in base ten, that digits represent the amounts of hundreds, tens and ones, and that those digits are a simplified way of writing the expanded form of numbers does sound quite dry! And yet many of us have to begin the year by reviewing place value - after all it is the bedrock of the number system.
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How to Get the Most from TeachersPayTeachers
If you are a shopper on Teachers Pay Teachers, you already know that products range in price from totally FREE to over $400! Here are a few tips I have learned over the years from being a seller on TpT that I want to pass on to you. (Full disclosure: I have been a seller on TpT since 2014. But these hints are for you to use across the TeachersPayTeachers website, although if you particularly want to shop at my store, who am I to stop you?) Save Your Money And Use Teachers Pay Teachers for Schools Have you heard of TpT for Schools? Just as your school submits purchases…
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Staying Focused on Workdays
Going back to school, even when we are at our most enthusiastic, can be tough after a long vacation. Especially when we have a list of tasks we have to complete. And when we haven’t seen our co-workers all summer and we need to catch up. And when our administrators and districts give us professional development classes when we just want to put up the alphabet posters in our room. It can be overwhelming when you enter your classroom on that first workday with chairs stacked against the wall and empty bulletin boards begging for life. Here are three tips to keep you at your most productive and to respect…
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Using Nursery Rhymes at Home and in the Classroom
Listening and speaking are the foundation for reading and writing, and as teachers we know the importance of reading to children from a very young age. But just as important is hearing and learning nursery rhymes. Back in the day I learnt all my nursery rhymes bouncing around on relative's knees, and would proudly show of my ability to 'read' my nursery rhyme book back to front, reciting all the nursery rhymes that are still emblazoned on my memory to this day.
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Celebration Time!
It’s a big celebration here as today marks one year since I first started blogging. It’s been quite the journey and as it nearly coincides with the end of the school year for Mr. B, I decided to share the love with these free bubble labels! We buy the six pack of bubble wands every year from Walmart or Amazon. It ends up at around $20 for the class and it is something that the kids can use on the last recess before summer. The labels are in color or in ink-friendly black and white, for you to use with your own colored paper. I just tape the labels onto…
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5 Amazon Bulletin Board Accessories to make your classroom POP!
If you are lucky enough to receive a classroom budget, then these items from Amazon are totally worth the investment, and if stored carefully should last you for years! (Disclosure: Some of links below are affiliate links, which means that at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.) Bulletin Board Paper Hopefully your school already provides some primary colored backing paper for your bulletin boards. But this stuff is amazing. I bought some last year and backed both my own board and one in my husband’s classroom, and I have fallen in love with it. Not only does it…
